Second wines

What does this mean exactly? Specifically referring to bordeaux? Does this mean that the second wine is better or worse than the first? Thanks in advance everyone!

Click here.............

http://info.detnews.com/wine/columns/jo ... .cfm?id=33

Thanks Bob! That is just what I was looking for. I thought that might be the case, but the word "Reserve" for some of the second wines was throwing me off. Thanks again!

Ack, I lost a long response earlier. But Bob's article explains the concept well. A few thoughts:

1) It's important to not confuse the Second Growths (Pichon-Lalande, the Leovilles, etc) with second wines (of course, most Second Growths have second wines!).

2) Seconds can be very good - or not. As article says, don't think you're getting a glimpse of the flagship wine at a fraction of the price. If a chateau that is planted 60% Cab Sauvignon, 30% Cab Franc, and 10 % Cab Franc decides the Merlot is poor one year, the main blend might be 80% CS, 15% CF, and 5% Merlot, and the second might be primarily Merlot. Remember what you're getting is what wasn't deemed worthy of the main wine- whether due to less favorable location, a grape that did less well, young vines, or whatever. Of course the best growers might sell off the really less desirable juice to negociants.

3) Oh yeah, the price. Seconds used to be pretty cheap. But as a lot of people (Kevin Zraly comes to mind, but mostly retailers) have pushed the
"terroir of the flagship wine at a fraction of the price" line. Now prices of the seconds of the Firsts and Superseconds are more than most 4th or 5th growths. In Margaux I'd rather have the main wine of du Tertre or Giscours than the second (Alter Ego) of Palmer, which sells for more. I like Les Forts de Latour, but lately it sometimes sells for more than Pauillacs like Pontet-Canet and Grand Puy Lacoste.

PS Clos du Marquis is mentioned in the article, and usually considered a second. But AFAIK it's a specific plot within the boundaries of LLC, and not by my definition a second.

Gents, I am interested to know if second labels apply here in USA? Or is it a case of the wine being sourced from another area and called something else?

The great Bordeaux estates harvest their vineyards, crush the grapes, and ferment them. The wine ends up being fermented in several separate vats, and aged in sometimes hundreds of separate barrels. No two barrels are going to develop quite the same. In the end, the cellarmaster has to decide the fates of the various barrels and lots:

Some will be blended into the final vat(s) that make up the Grand Vin on which the Chateau bases its reputation.

Some will be deemed not up to the standard of the Grand Vin. Of this, some get sold off to the negociant trade, usually under a contract that says the negociant can't advertise where the wine came from. Some estates keep other wines deemed not good engough for the Grand Vin to blend for their so-called second wine.

So the second wine is, by definition, made from stuff that's not good enough to be in the estate's Grand Vin. So how good is it, really? Well, it depends a lot on why it was rejected for the Grand Vin. In really successful vintages, the top estates generally end up splitting hairs, and the second wine can be almost as good as the Grand Vin. But in years where there were problems, such as when rampant rot strikes, the estate may put all the healthy grapes into the Grand Vin, and the second wine gets all the bad stuff. Or in this case the estate may choose not to make the second wine, and to sell off the failures to the negociant trade. Or just send it to Brussels for distillation and collect the farm subsidy.

As Dale Williams pointed out, the second labels in Bordeaux are no longer the bargains that they once were. To the contrary--you generally pay a premium for the Grand Vin's hand-me-downs and mistakes, whereas you could get a better wine with the Grand Vin from an estate that doesn't have the premium name.

-Paul W.